STATEMENTS BY SENATORS
Senator McDONALD (Queensland—Deputy Leader of the Nationals in the Senate) (12:59): I rise today on something that is incredibly pleasurable. Unlike the times when we come into this place to talk about colleagues who have passed—I mean that in the ultimate way—today I want to talk about a colleague who has just retired. My good friend Wendy Askew has been an extraordinary example of what being a great senator is.
Wendy has been an extraordinary leader, acting as the whip for the coalition. She has been fair, but she has also held the Senate, particularly on our side, to a standard, which is important. Australians have never felt more frustrated by the representation and the world that they live in, and I think that Wendy has provided an environment that is civil and smart and organised, and I think that's very important.
Wendy came into the Senate just before me. She came in in 2019, but, human nature being what it is, I assumed that she'd been here for years because she was so well informed, so calm and so prepared, unlike me. But it had only been a short time previously that Wendy Askew came into the Senate, replacing David Bushby, her brother, which I think is a lovely connection.
Wendy was first elected outright in 2022 and became the chief whip that same year, which is a big job to take on, as our new chief whip is finding out. Wendy came to the Senate experienced in the ways of parliament and the ways of life. In fact, it was only four months before Wendy came to the Senate that she married John.
What an extraordinary partnership they are—two people who, more than most other couples that I see, are so truly invested in making the world a better place. 'Think global, act local' is something that I believe they live by, whether it's here in their workplaces or in their local community—feeding people on Christmas Day, or the work that Wendy's husband, John, has done through Rotary, preparing escape kits and various other fabulous pieces of support for families at their worst times of need.
Wendy came here with a grown-up family. Her children, Amanda and Thomas, have now had children of their own, and I know it's been a big weight for Wendy, being away from her grandchildren. I look forward to having the same grandchildren circumstances in the future, but that's for my daughter—no pressure, Lucy!
Wendy has always attracted extraordinary staff around her, and I want to thank all of those people who have done such a great job. She has been a dedicated servant to the community of Tasmania and to the Liberal Party, and I think that is extraordinary—over 20 years of that work. She has been a true, dedicated champion of the values that are important to Wendy and the Tasmanian Liberal Party.
What I really wanted to talk about today is that I reflect a lot on what we actually do in this place. What change do we make? Sometimes it's really hard to find that and be able to say, 'I made a difference for that person or that community or for Australia more broadly.' Wendy has genuinely made a difference because she gets in and does the hard work in the boring things—well, in the things that certainly don't attract a lot of attention, like Senate committee work.
The work that she has done and that she has driven, most recently for the epilepsy community across Australia, has changed people's lives, as has the work she's done for people in pain, the work she's done for MS and the work she's done for so many of those groups who so often go unseen and unsupported, certainly without a federal government overlay of better coordination of funding, PBS or whatever it is that we can do to make a change.
I want to congratulate Wendy on not only serving in this place but making a very real difference to individuals who sometimes are at the worst part of their lives. Thank you, Wendy. Thank you for being a terrific senator and thank you for being a very good friend.